BURSTED! Disengaged N-Power Beneficiaries Cry Out, Say; Many Of Us Were Deliberately Exited By State, FG Agents (must read)

Beneficiaries of one of the Social Investment Programmes of Federal Government of Nigeria, ‘N-Power’ in Osun State has registered their grievances over the disengagement of more than 500 beneficiaries from the scheme by the agents of the federal government through the office of the state Focal Person.

As at the month of June, 2019, the federal government had sacked five hundred and four (504) volunteers of the programme in Osun State which is equivalent to 20% of the total number of 2,525 disengaged across the country for absconding from their duties.

Some affected volunteers of N-Power from Osogbo, Ila, Olorunda, Irewole, Ifedayo, Egbedore among other local governments gathered in Osogbo on Wednesday, 21st August, 2019 to brainstorm on the way out of their predicaments.

While our investigation revealed that some of the affected volunteers were disengaged because of their absence at their various place of primary assignments, OSUN REPORTERS Correspondent reports that, the affected volunteers claimed they were unjustly disengaged despite being punctual at their various Place of Primary Assignment (PPA).

Some of the disengaged volunteers accused the state Focal Person of the scheme, Hon. Idiat Babalola who is the immediate past Osun State Commissioner for Federal Matters, of being the brain behind their eventual disengagement.

In another revelation, the disengagement of some beneficiaries were politically motivated due to the involvement of some beneficiaries against the will of those in charge of the programme at the state level, they claimed.

As explained, different reasons for disengaging each volunteer were given by the federal government through each of the exited volunteer’s online profile, such as;
– Oparinde Folake from Osogbo Local Government: “absconded from PPA”
– Adebayo Rachel from Ila Local Government: “Don’t ask me”
– Odetoye Oyindamola from Ila Local Government: “They no vote for Buhari”
-Ogeneh Matthew from Ila Local Government: “Get a better offer”
– While Ali Muibat from Olorunda, Odeyomi Christina from Irewole, Adegoke Adekunle from Osogbo, Odedunni Timothy from Ifedayo, Adegoke Taiwo from Egbedore, Isa Abdulateef from Olorunda, Akanji Fatimo and Odeyemi Kazeem from Irewole Local Governments were disengaged for “absconding from PPAs”

Profile of an exited volunteer

In a separate interview with volunteers after the meeting, Odeyomi Christina and Odeyemi Shina claimed that they’ve being regular at their places of primary assignment but Osun Npower desk should be blamed for their unfair disengagement.

“Let me tell you the truth, they knew that some people might have died, got a better job, traveled out of the country but still collecting the stipend. Since there is no mechanism to know this, they decided to put people on hold randomly.

“They later created a window of 45-day ultimatum for the affected volunteers to prove their innocence. The window was for them to get a clearance and attestation letter duly stamped from our PPAs.

“In other to prove that we have not absconded. The letters were to be collated and forwarded to Abuja by the state focal person for exoneration and rectification. We did the necessary things as directed but surprisingly, the woman refused to act on it until the 45-day ultimatum lapsed. She didn’t forward anything to Abuja and it is about three months now, then they claimed that we have finally exited from the scheme,” they said.

Another beneficiary from Osogbo, Adegoke Adekunle explained the political undertone behind the disengagement of some beneficiaries especially in Osun State.

“Despite my punctuality at my PPA, I was unfairly disengaged from the programme. I must confess this, it was because of rigidity of some of us who decided to turn back from using us for their selfish political gain during the last election, that is why those who worked at State Npower office in the administration of the former Osun governor deliberately recommended our disengagement,” he added.

One of the attestation letters from PPA

Making their position known to the OSUN REPORTERS after the meeting, Isa Abdulsaleef from Olorunda local government who spoke on behalf of the Osun State disengaged Npower Volunteers explained the underlisted positions.

– “We called on the federal government through the office of the State Focal Person to as a matter of urgency address the unfair disengagement and make the necessary amendment to reinstate us and pay our backlogs.
– We demand justice from the Abuja desk of Npower and identify the perpetrator of this unlawful act.
– We also call on the Osun State Government to intervene into the matter as Osun took 20% of the exited volunteers across the country.
– To prevent mass protest, the criteria for putting us on hold while we’re always punctual at our PPAs which later resulted to total disengagement must be revealed,” he stated.

As at 28th of June, 78 out of the 504 affected volunteers were able to prove their innocence by obtaining attestation and confirmation letters from their PPA and promptly submitted it each to the office of Focal Person.

Some of the disengaged volunteers from Osun

Our Correspondent obtained the list that was duly signed by the Osun Npower Coordinating Director, Mr. Olusoji Wojuade since June, 28th but not forwarded by the Focal Person to the Abuja office for final reinstatement process, they claimed.

Our Correspondent, who visited the office of Osun State Focal Person at the governor’s office in Osogbo on two different occasion was told that Mr. Olusoji Wojuade was on an official assignment outside the office.

In a telephone conversation with the Osun State Npower Ambassador, Mr. Gbogboade Akande revealed to us that the solution to any Npower challenges can only be channelled through the office of the state Focal Person.

The editorial management of OSUN REPORTERS have decided to get to the root of the matter as we continue to report both side of the story in all our media platforms.

Recall that, OsunReportersNG.com had reported that the federal government disengaged 2,525 beneficiaries of its N-Power programme for absenting themselves from their various Places of Primary Assignment.